Friday, February 13, 2015

The
Natural History Museum has just announced that Dippy is being retired. The rather
splendid cast of diplodocus is being removed and being replaced by the skeleton
of the blue whale.

Artist impression of the new entrance

But not
after a fight. Some of us it seems, are rather fond of Dippy and are not going
to let him go without a fight.

oldie but goldie

The plaster
cast skeleton was a gift to the Museum from Andrew Carnegie (from Val McDermid
and Ian Rankin country in the kingdom, of Fife) and he bears the name Diplodocuscarnegii
for that reason.At that time, 1905, he
was thelargest dinosaur known.

bearded chappies nibbling canapes in wonder

Although
there are other copies of Dippy... Dippy doubles…10 of them, decituplets? something… in
Berlin, Paris and Milan, he is always associated with the Natural History Museum in London.

He has
taken pride of place in the main hall since 1979 and he reflects the beautiful architecture
around him. He seems to fit in a way that I’m not a blue whale would.

Dippy has
appeared in numerous films and documentaries and is a bit of a star in his own
right. He had his own twitter account, 'save Dippy' is trending in the world of
hashtags.Petitions are being signed to
keep him or her in place. (it is impossible
to sex the diplodocus ... but as long as Dippy or Miss Dippy himself knows the difference
that’s all that matters.)

Rumours are now abounding that the Museum have ill
judged the denizens depth of devotion to Dippy.

Dippy fits the Monty Python theory of the dinosaur

ie small at each end and big in the middle

If they have their way, over the next two years Dippy will be
dismantled and replaced with a mounted blue whale skeleton that will dive down
from above. It may be very conservative and environmental and worthy, but will it be fun!Museums must change with the times and the blue
whale is an iconic image in the green movement to look after the planet, but a whale is a whale is a whale. I’ve seen
them in the wild and on the tv. I’ve seen blue whale models in long beach
aquarium for one instance… and it is impressive, they are impressive…

but Dippy is
engaging, and he talks to the young.There is a sense of evolution when you talk to Dippy.Dippy discourse. Of course.

Over the last few years Dippy has raised
nearly a million pounds in funds and the dinosaur exhibits that he heralds is
the only one that always has a queue to get in. On our recent visit we saw the
sign that said an hour to queue from here. And that was a school day, early
Friday morning. Instead we watched homo sapiens fall over on the ice rink, where
the sun had melted the top inch of the surface so there was a lot of water sloshing about.
Anybody who fell got very wet. Especially on their backside.Homo sapiens soakius gluteus.

So what is going to happen to Dippy's remains. Maybe he will be kidnapped for his own good, as in One of
our dinosaurs is missing. But he is a senior citizen, a golden oldie, a crumbly or as we call them in Glasgow, a coffin dodger. He is over a hundred years old, he is fragile and delicate. Decorously Delicate Dippy. So touring seems out the question.He could be set free and put outside to graze
on the grass at the front of the museum but he would need to be recastto withstand the weather and therefore he would not be not Dippy the delectable. The thought of him being wrapped
up and put in a box with a bar code on top is dastardly and deplorable.

He has 292 bones, 36 packing cases brought him to
London, it took four months to build him and he was unveiled on Friday 12th
May 1905. He was taken down during the war to protect him and over the years he
has been re configured as paleontologists advanced research and understood more
of how Dippy would look and how he would move. Originally his tail and
head were down, now the neck is horizontal and the tail forms a graceful arc
over the heads of his visitors.

As I said there is now a petition. it attracted 22,574 signatures
in just one day and novelty pop duo Right Said Fred have released a single to
help prevent Dippy’s demise. Their hit song was called deeply dippy so it's not a huge lyrical leap.

The lower comment says that replacing Dippy with a blue whale is like replacing the Eiffel Tower with a stack of toilet rolls.

The director of the zoo says that heloves Dippy, too but the dinosaur has had a good 35 years in the limelight and he is ready for
something new.I've known men to use that theory about their wife.Caro Ramsay 13 02 15

The whale skeleton is already on display elsewhere in the museum so I think the management should stick with what works for many men i.e. have two loves in your life but keep them well apart. The trouble starts when one is replaced by the other- and THAT can be costly....

This is an answer ignoring your obvious baiting final line, Ms. Ramsay...it being so close to Valentine's Day and all.Besides, we Pittsburgh boys were raised better than that...Andy Carnegie and I, that is.

Did you know that the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh has one of the "best" collections of dinosaurs anywhere? Including a Diplododocus carnegii! As a child, and indeed as an adult (?) I stood beneath it's legendary Tyrannosaurus Rex and stared in awe. Hmm, I wonder if that subconsciously influenced my decision to become a lawyer?

Only the Steelers announcing they were moving out of Pittsburgh would likely strike Pittsburgh school children as a bigger loss.